Rolled stock piling device



May 23, 1967 v. G. MEDNITSKY 3,321,091

ROLLED STOCK PILING DEVICE Filed July 16, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 -Sheet 2 2 Sheets v. G. MEDNITSKY ROLLED STOCK FILING DEVICE May 23, 1967 Filed July 16, 1964 United States Patent 3,321,091 ROLLED STOCK PILING DEVICE Vilrtor Georgievich Mednitslty, Kolpino, U.S.S.R., assignor to Yzhorsky zavod imeni A.A. Zhdanova, Kolpino, U.S.S.R.

Filed July 16, 1964, Ser. No. 383,196 4 Claims. (Cl. 214-6) This invention relates to devices for piling or stacking rolled stock and, more particularly, to devices for piling rolled shapes.

Known devices for piling rolled shapes comprise a feeding mechanism consisting of profile driving rolls, which take the rolled stock from the approach table and are arranged one over the other, the upper roll being provided with a spring-loaded screwdown for ensuring the necessary pulling force. These driving rolls are located at the face end of an elevating table, intended for preforming the pile of rolled shapes, said elevating table being raised and lowered by means of an electric-motor driven linkage mounted on a movable platform and connected to a rack-and-pinion gear which drives the platform with a reciprocal motion perpendicular to the direction of the feed of the rolled stock to the elevating table.

The known rolled stock piling devices have the following disadvantages.

(1) Low productivity due to the feeding of rolled stock piece by piece into the device and the limited speeds of all its mechanisms which cannot ensure productivity corresponding to that of the modern highly productive rolling mills.

The existing mechanism cannot in practice handle a preformed row of rolled stock as it involves difliculties in servicing and the need for large storehouses to keep change rolls for various shapes of rolled stock.

(2) The longitudinal feed of the rolled stock piece by piece from the face end of the table cannot provide a proper piling as the front ends of the delivered rolled shapes are free and hence practically uncontrolled, which is particularly the case with long rolled stock. Besides, the longitudinal feed of the rolled stock to the table makes it difficult to set the necessary speed; if it is low, the rolled shapes do not reach the stop (their ends are not aligned); and if it is high, the rolled shapes rebound from the stop and fall thereby disturbing the form of a pile making it impossible to feed the next row.

In the case of piling steel angle sections, it is impossible to bind a pile if there are turned-over rows of angle bars, such binding being necessary to maintain the shape of the pile.

In addition to the above-mentioned devices, another apparatus is in common use for stacking articles by pulling out horizontally movable plates, supports or bars from under the articles deposited thereon.

A serious disadvantage of such devices is their inability to stack articles having large weight and relatively small cross-section, for instance, rolled shapes, because to withstand the weight of such heavy stacked articles, (said movable plates, supports or bars should be suitably rigid and strong, and as a result their height largely exceeds the height of the stacked articles, thus causing the overturning of the articles stacked as the movable plates or bars are being pulled from under the stack. The evenness of the stacked order is also disturbed.

An object of the present invention is to provide a feed for the elevating table with the rolled shapes arranged in preformed rows, rather than piece by piece, as is the case with the known devices. Such rowwise feed provides high productivity of the device.

A further object of the present invention is to provide cross feeding of the row of preformed rolled stock onto a stacking elevating table without overturning the rolled stock about its center of gravity thereby improving the quality of the piling.

For achieving the first object, the device according to the invention is provided with feed means in the shape of chain transfer conveyors arranged in spaced relationship between the conveyor rollers for feeding of rolled stock onto the stacking elevating table.

The other object of the invention is achieved by locating stacking means in side-to-side relationship with the elevating table. The stacking means is constructed in the form of at least two elongated thin movable sheets adapted to carry rolled stock rows and pivotably connected with a driving motor. Such pivotable connection allows said sheets to perform horizontal and vertical movements. As a result, the sheets which are actuated by the motor to reciprocate in a vertical plane move along a horizontal guide represented by the upper surface of the table or the rolled stock row already deposited thereon. In addition, the stacking means are provided with at least two stationary and two telescopic stops adapted to hold the rolled stock row when the movable alongated sheets are being pulled from under the row of rolled stock during the stacking process.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel construction and in the adaptation and combination of elements and details hereinafter described and claimed, and it is believed that changes in the disclosed embodiment of the invention can be resorted to within the scope of appended claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become clearly understood from the following de scription and the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the device according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a view of the device as seen in the direction of arrow A of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross sectional view of the device taken on the line B-B of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross sectional view of the device taken on the line D-D of FIG. 1.

The device according to the invention is to be mounted at the delivery end of the approach conveyor 1 (FIG. 1).

Transfer of the rolled stock from the approach conveyer 1 onto an elevating-forming table 2 is achieved by means of rollers of a roll table 3, which are driven by an electric motor 3, a transfer bed 4, chain conveyers 5 driven by an electric motor 5' through a reduction gear 5 and arranged between the roll-table rollers, as well as by means of handling devices in the form of moving elongated sheets 6.

The roll-table is provided with retractable stops 7 located between spring-loaded slide blocks 7 (FIG. 4) actuated by a pneumatic cylinder 7" and lever 7". Arranged in side-by-side relationship with the elevating table 2 are stationary stops 8 and telescopic stops 9 serving to shift alternate stacked rows of rolled stock relative to each other so that the edges of alternate stacked rows project beyond the edges of the other rows. The movable sheets 6 have one end free and the other pivotably connected with driving carriages 10. As a result, the movable sheets 6 are able to perform horizontal and vertical movements and to freely repose on the upper surface of the table 2 or on the preformed rolled stock row irrespective of any errors in the adjustment of the level of the elevating table 2. This permits the manufacture of elongated sheets 6 of substantially small thickness, much less than the height of rolled shapes, thus allowing .rolled stock rows to be deposited without. overturning,

thereby correcting the principal drawback of all prior art devices, wherein bars are pulled out from under the stacked rolled stock.

The carriage 10 is accommodated in horizontal guides 11 and is connected to a system of levers 12 actuated by a link 13 (FIG. 2) driven in turn by an electric motor 14 through a reduction gear 14.

In order to raise the free end of the moving sheet 6 (FIG. 1) when it returns to its initial position, there is a lifting roller 15 (FIG. 3) mounted at the front edge of the table 2 and actuated by a pneumatic drive 16. Electrical interlocking of all mechanisms of the device is achieved by means of an induction transducer 17 (FIG. 1), control apparatus 18, a photo relay 19, another control apparatus 20, and limit switches 21 (FIG. 2).

The device may comprise several sections arranged one after the other and serving for piling short rolled stock on the'tables of each section or piling lon-g rolled stock simultaneously on the tables of all of the sections.

The ready-made rolled stock in the form of a row of the desired width is delivered by the approach conveyer 1 and rollers 3 to one of the retractable stops 7 depending on the length of the rolled stock to be piled. When the row of rolled stock reaches the stop 7, the induction trans ducer 17 (FIG. 1) sends a pulse to deactivate the rollers 3 and engage the conveyer to move the row of stock along the transfer bed 4 onto the moving sheets 6 which freely lie on the elevating table 2. After the row of rolled stock has been pushed onto the sheets 6 and a cam controlling the conveyer 5 has travelled a strictly definite pitch, the control apparatus 18 sends a pulse to disengage the drive of the conveyer 5 and engage the drive of the moving sheets which carry the row of stock in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the elevating table till it reaches the stop 8 or 9.

The row of rolled stock thrusts against the stop 8 or 9, and comes to a standstill while the sheet 6 continues its movement to slip from under the stock. The moment the rolled stock is being put on the table 2, it crosses a light beam from the photoelectric relay thus giving a preliminary pulse for the lowering of the elevating table 2.

As soon as the sheet 6 has traveled beyond the stops 8 and 9, the control apparatus 20 sends a pulse to stop the drive of the sheet 6 and gives a final pulse to lower the elevating table 2, as well as to simultaneously actuate the drive 16 of the lifting rollers 15 for raising the free end of the sheet 6.

The table 2 moves down until the row of rolled stock, placed on it ceases blocking the light beam of the photoelectric relay 19. At the same time the sheet 6 returns to its initial position above the table 2; in case of piling double-T or channel bars, this movement involves retraction or upward extension of the telescopic stop 9, which should be extended to place each even row in displaced relation with respect to each odd row of rolled stock.

As soon as the moving sheets 6 return to their initial position, the control apparatus 20 sends a pulse to the rollers 15 for lowering of the free ends of the sheets until they reach the upper surface of the row of rolled stock previously laid on the table. At the same time, another pulse is sent to the conveyer 5 for moving the next row of rolled stock to be piled. This piling operation is repeated until a pile of the desired size, that is, of the desire-d height, is formed; the height being controlled by the limit switch 21. After the desired height has been reached the conveyer is driven in reverse travel and the formation of a second pile proceeds on the other side of the feeding mechanism.

The rolled stock of the pile, as formed earlier, is 'secured together and delivered upwards to be received by a crane, whereafter the table 2 and the sheets 6 are reset in their initial positions.

What I claim is:

1. Apparatus for stacking piles of rolled shapes which are advanced along a longitudinal conveyor, said apparatus comprising: conveyor means for transversely feeding successive of rolled stock from said conveyor, means in the form of horizontal support plates spaced along the conveyor means; elevating tables for the stacking of piles of rolled stock arranged adjacent the conveyor means, means adjacent said elevating tables in the shape of at least two movable elongated sheets, one for each elevating table, driven in horizontal reciprocal movement to transport the piles on said tables and deposit the same in prescribed position thereon, the tables being lowered after each pile is deposited thereon, said sheets having free ends closer to the conveyor means, and opposite remote ends pivotably mounted to move vertically and horizontally relative to the elevating tables, said free ends of the sheets resting on the upper surface of said tables or on the stack of rolled shapes already thereon as horizontal guides during horizontal reciprocation of the elongated sheets, at least two stationary stops and two telescopic stops arranged adjacent each elevating table for engaging each of the piles of rolled stock as the sheets are being displaced away from the conveyor means during the reciprocation stroke to allow the sheets to be removed from beneath the piles and the same deposited onto the tables in prescribed positions as established by the stops and at least two lifting rollers located underneath the elongated sheets near each elevating table for lifting the sheets as they return to their initial positions above the tables during the completion of each reciprocating stroke.

2. Apparatus for stacking piles of rolled shapes which are intermittently advanced on a longitudinal conveyor, said apparatus comprising means for transversely feeding the stock from the conveyor including at least two intermittently actuated reversible chain conveyors for conveying the piles of rolled stock in both transverse directions relative to the longitudinal direction of advancement of the conveyor; horizontal support plates spaced along the transverse feed means at the level of the upper surface of the longitudinal conveyor, vertically displaceable tables arranged on both sides of each transverse feed means for stacking rolled stock thereon, said tables having a first lengthwise side facing said transverse feed means, means for successively receiving the piles of stock to deposit the same on the tables, the latter said means being arranged along the other lengthwise side of the elevating tables and including at least two movable elongate-d sheets each having one end free and an opposite end pivotably connected for reciprocal movement in a generally horizontal direction; at least two stationary stops arranged along the second lengthwise side of each elevating table to contact the piles of rolled shapes as said elongated sheets are being reciprocally moved to enable the sheets to be withdrawn from beneath the piles and deposit the latter on the tables in prescribed position; at least two telescopic stops arranged at the second lengthwise side of the table to shift alternate piles of stacked rolled stock relative to another so that the edges of alternate piles of the rolled stock project beyond those of the other piles of rolled stock, and at least two lifting rollers situated underneath the elongated sheets near the second lengthwise side of each elevating table for lifting the sheets as they return to their initial positions above the table during the completion of each reciprocation stroke.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein said tables are displaceable vertically through a distance equal to the height of each pile of rolled stock.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, comprising means supporting the lifting rollers to both raise the same and the free ends of the sheets therewith as the sheets return to their initial positions above the tables and to move downwards out of engagement with the sheets after the sheets are in their initial position whereby the sheets rest in their initial positions on the tables or on last pile of rolled stock thereon.

(References on following page) 5 6 References Cited by the Examiner FOREIGN PATENTS UNITED STATES PATENTS 150,419 9/1962 U.S.S.R.

8/1907 B b 2146 8/1932 g g GERALD M. FORLENZA, Przmary Exammer. 11/1944 McCann et a1. 214-11 5 I. E. OLDS, Assistant Examiner.

3/1956 Birchall 214-6 

1. APPARATUS FOR STACKING PILES OF ROLLED SHAPES WHICH ARE ADVANCE ALONG A LONGITUDINAL CONVEYOR, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING: CONVEYOR MEANS FOR TRANSVERSELY FEEDING SUCCESSIVE OF ROLLED STOCK FROM SAID CONVEYOR, MEANS IN THE FORM OF HORIZONTAL SUPPORT PLATES SPACED ALONG THE CONVEYOR MEANS; ELEVATING TABLES FOR THE STACKING OF PILES OF ROLLED STOCK ARRANGED ADJACENT THE CONVEYOR MEANS, MEANS ADJACENT SAID ELEVATING TABLES IN THE SHAPE OF AT LEAST TWO MOVABLE ELONGATED SHEETS, ONE FOR EACH ELEVATING TABLE, DRIVEN IN HORIZONTAL RECIPROCAL MOVEMENT TO TRANSPORT THE PILES ON SAID TABLES AND DEPOSIT THE SAME IN PRESCRIBED POSITION THEREON, THE TABLES BEING LOWERED AFTER EACH PILE IS DEPOSITED THEREON, SAID SHEETS HAVING FREE ENDS CLOSER TO THE CONVEYOR MEANS, AND OPPOSITE REMOTE ENDS PIVOTABLY MOUNTED TO MOVE VERTICALLY AND HORIZONTALLY RELATIVE TO THE ELEVATING TABLES, SAID FREE ENDS OF THE SHEETS RESTING ON THE UPPER SURFACE OF SAID TABLES OR ON THE STACK OF ROLLED SHAPES ALREADY THEREON AS HORIZONTAL GUIDES DURING HORIZONTAL RECIPROCATION OF THE ELONGATED SHEETS, AT LEAST TWO STATIONARY STOPS AND TWO TELESCOPIC STOPS ARRANGED ADJACENT EACH ELEVATING TABLE FOR ENGAGING EACH OF THE PILES OF ROLLED STOCK AS THE SHEETS ARE BEING DISPLACED AWAY FROM THE CONVEYOR MEANS DURING THE RECIPROCATION STROKE TO ALLOW THE SHEETS TO BE REMOVED FROM BENEATH THE PILES AND THE SAME DEPOSITED ONTO THE TABLES IN PRESCRIBED POSITIONS AS ESTABLISHED BY THE STOPS AND AT LEAST TWO LIFTING ROLLERS LOCATED UNDERNEATH THE ELONGATED SHEETS NEAR EACH ELEVATING TABLE FOR LIFTING THE SHEETS AS THEY RETURN TO THEIR INITIAL POSITIONS ABOVE THE TABLES DURING THE COMPLETION OF EACH RECIPROCATING STROKE. 